The vibes were pretty high for the New York Mets to start the 2026 MLB season. A 3-1 start turned into a sour 3-4 start, but the team rebounded and were feeling good after getting to 7-4 through 11 games. Since then, it’s been nothing but pain.
The Mets lost their seventh game in a row on Tuesday. In the loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Mets scored less than two runs for the sixth time in the past seven games. Juan Soto being injured is certainly a factor in this recent slide, but it goes deeper than that. For a team that sports the second-highest payroll in MLB, the panic button is ready to get pushed; or is it?
Steve Cohen promises that Mets will turn things around despite 7-11 start
Despite everything going wrong, Mets owner Steve Cohen is actually very positive about the team going forward. His promise to fans? That the Mets “will turn this around”.
Nobody likes to lose but I saw some “green shoots tonight”. On offense, Lindor had two hits including a home run. Bichette got a double hitting it to left field as opposed to recently being right field prone. Benge got a solid hit. Soto started his running progression today. Semien hit a shot that might have been a home run on a warmer night. Finally, Nolan McLean pitched an outstanding game going 7 innings. Hang in there fans, we will turn this around!
Francisco Lindor was also somewhat positive despite admitting that the sense of urgency is at a high level. The shortstop saw encouraging signs with the team’s at-bats: “It felt like just the conversations, the engagements, and felt like every at-bat we were going to get a hit… It’s one of those where as the game goes on, you see the at-bats, you see the way guys take pitches. It looked really good.”
New York Mets’ highest-paid players are struggling to get hits, get on base and drive in runs
The team is struggling mightily, particularly on offense. New York’s top paid bats, aside from Juan Soto who’s on the IL, can’t get anything going. Luis Robert is the only one hitting at a respectable clip among the top guys.
- Bo Bichette: $42 million salary, hitting .227
- Francisco Lindor: $27 million salary, hitting .194
- Marcus Semien: $26 million salary, hitting .188
- Jorge Polanco: $20 million salary, hitting .179
- Luis Robert Jr.: $20 million salary, hitting .259
Even if the team was getting the best pitching performances in the league, they would still struggle to win games due to how cold the bats have been. The team is currently within the bottom 7 teams in terms of runs scored, batting average, on base percentage and OPS.
It sounds like Lindor believes the offense is close to a breakthrough. Perhaps that will come when Soto makes his return, possibly as soon as this weekend.
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